The Servant Warrior Experience for GU Football​​

Source: Michael Butler

My name is Michael, and I used to work for the football program here at Greenville University. I was a servant warrior which was a football manager that films the team practices and games. I heard about this job during my senior year of high school and I was really interested in it. I actually ended up running into the head basketball coach, Coach Barber, during my college visit here and I told him that I was interested in managing the football team. The next day I got a phone call from the Greenville football coaches and they wanted me to help out with the program. I remember being super excited when camp started, but you know my favorite part was the coaching staff welcoming me to Greenville University with open arms. Most athletic programs care more about winning than they do the student. The football program at Greenville will love you regardless of what happens on the football field. The coaching staff cares more about you as a person and a man. They care more about academics and life after Greenville. 

The first thing I would do as a football manager was to help people with equipment for the football practices and games. Then I would film the football practice. The coaches would give me a practice sheet each time that told me what to record in the deer stand. After practice, I would clean up the field and take care of all the football players’ laundry.  This job took about three hours to do because of how much there was to wash, and you had to do this for every game and practice. 

The day before the game, I hung up jerseys and pants in everyone’s locker. I also had to make sure all of the players practice jerseys were washed before the game because they might wear their uniform from practice to the game. After that, I made sure to charge the headsets.

Football uniforms in 2017.
Source: Michael Butler

During game day, for home games, you had to wake up early. I started working three hours before the start of the game making sure everyone had their jersey and mouthpieces. Then I would have to pack extra jerseys, helmets, shoulder pads and equipment.  After that I would take all of it to the field. I would make sure all the headsets were working and then set them on the benches along with placing each position’s name tag on the benches. This helped the players know where they should sit when the coaches needed to talk to them during the game. Lastly, I would have to set up the camera with the tripod before the game as well. 

The camera that the football program use.
Source: Michael Butler.

For road trips, I would pack on Thursday for the team. I would then load everything on the shuttle bus the next morning.  Sometimes it would be around four in the morning if we were going further away to someplace like Minnesota. It was a great experience working with the football program here at Greenville, and if you’re looking to serve or be apart of something bigger, I’d highly recommend you look on Twitter, and Facebook, but most importantly fill out the questionnaire

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